West Ham United drew with Fulham in the Premier League at Craven Cottage this afternoon.
Julen Lopetegui named a truly baffling West Ham starting XI for the clash with Fulham at Craven Cottage today.
And as soon as the lineup was released, the Hammers fans knew that we were in for a long afternoon in west London.
Lopetegui has a lot of burning questions to answer tonight, especially after the performance we saw from West Ham in the first-half.
It was unacceptable display from 80% of the Hammers players, but the buck stops with Lopetegui. He picked that team today, even though we all knew it was the wrong selection.
It’s still very early days, and we all need to be patient with the West Ham head coach. However, that doesn’t mean that he’s immune from criticism.
There were numerous things on display against Fulham this afternoon that I really didn’t like one little bit.
West Ham player ratings vs Fulham
The Hammers were so much better in the second-half after Lopetegui made a couple of changes.
But how did Hammers News rate the players’ individual performances?
Alphonse Areola 6
The Frenchman did ok today, but I would still like to see him command his penalty area with more authority. He was helpless to stop Raul Jimenez from opening the scoring.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka 6
The 26-year-old wasn’t up to his usual standards this afternoon. Alex Iwobi and Emile Smith-Rowe gave Wan-Bissaka all sorts of problems down our right-hand flank, and he didn’t really do anything of note going forward either. Much better things to come from the former Manchester United man no doubt.
Konstantinos Mavropanos 5
Really poor from the Greek centre-back today. He played Smith-Rowe onside in the build-up to Fulham’s opener, and generally just looked miles off the pace. I really think Lopetegui needs to bring in a big upgrade on Mavropanos.
Max Kilman 7
The former Wolves ace has been brilliant for us so far this season, and he was very solid once again today. Not his best performance for us, but extremely competent nonetheless.
Emerson Palmieri 5
The Italian just wasn’t good enough today, and Adama Traore gave him all sorts of problems up until he was forced off injured 10 minutes or so into the second-half.
Edson Alvarez 6.5
A tenacious, battling performance from the Mexican. He’s one of our best players at receiving the ball in tight areas from his defenders, and he showed that composure in possession in abundance today at Craven Cottage.
Guido Rodriguez 6
Kept things ticking along nicely and broke up the play well in the middle of the pitch. However, I would like to see a lot more from the Argentina international when it comes to his passing. He knocks it backwards and sideways far too often for me.
Tomas Soucek 4
A shocking performance from the big Czech Republic international. Why he started this game is beyond me. A poor decision from Lopetegui, and he only has himself to blame for starting the 29-year-old. Hooked at half-time.
Mohammed Kudus 6.5
Was lively throughout the second-half but extremely quiet during the first 45. I really hope that Lopetegui stops playing him out wide on the left – he’s so much better on the right or in the number 10 role.
Jarrod Bowen 6.5
The 27-year-old hasn’t reached the levels we know he’s capable of this season just yet. I wonder if he’s also feeling a lot more pressure on his shoulders now that he’s captain. In fairness to him, he did register the assist for Ing’s last minute equaliser. Much better stuff to come from Jarrod I’m sure, but I’m hoping that he gets up to pace soon.
Michail Antonio 3
Just absolutely awful once again. Lopetegui only has himself to blame for continually starting the Jamaica international. Antonio is 34 now, and he shouldn’t be anywhere near the West Ham squad, let alone the starting lineup! He didn’t hold the ball up, failed to play with any kind of hunger, effort or passion and he surely will not start for us again in the Premier League anytime soon. No surprise that he was hooked at half-time.
Subs
Lucas Paqueta 7
Made a big difference when he came on, what with his passing ability, composure in possession and vision. Even when he’s in poor form, he must start for us.
Crysencio Summerville 7
Showed real pace and determination down the left hand flank. The former Leeds man really should have started today and I fully expect him to get the nod next weekend.
Vladimir Coufal 5
Very much a nothing display from the 32-year-old. In my opinion, he’s not good enough to be playing Premier League football and needs to be moved on asap.
Carlos Soler 5
Struggled to get up to speed with the pace of the game, but we all need to give him time to adapt to the Premier League and Lopetegui’s methods.
Danny Ings 8
Was only given 10 minutes action but he scored our all important equaliser.
Fulham vs West Ham conclusion
Overall it was a really poor performance from West Ham.
I do blame the players on the pitch, obviously, but Lopetegui deserves big criticism as well.
He got his starting lineup and tactics completely wrong.
With Rodriguez and Alvarez sitting deep in the middle of the park, Lopetegui should have put a creative, ball-playing midfielder in alongside them.
Alas, he started Soucek instead, and just as everyone predicted when the lineup was released, it was a painfully disjointed first-half performance from the Hammers.
Even with the more defensive lineup, we were still so open in transition, and that’s something that Lopetegui must address during training.
The West Ham player ratings may come across as a little harsh, but I failed to see that much to be positive about today.
The biggest problem for me was Lopetegui’s starting XI, and I really hope that the Spaniard is aware that he got it badly wrong today.
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